At the first sign of something flying in, popping up, or generally being stupid and rude when I visit any website, I immediately tap and hold on the reader icon and select “Use on this website”. Done. More of us should do this.
This is for Safari on iOS, obviously. I don’t know what people on other platforms can do.
Without reason, without truth, there is no real democracy. —President Macron to Congress
Macron treats Congress to a full-scale takedown of Trumpism - The Washington Post
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold onto this illusion, even though he knows it’s not true. —John Steinbeck
Thinking of my brother Brian Roberts who would have been 51 today.
I love this so much.
I send a letter each Friday morning with new music I’ve added to my collection and miscellany from flyingdingo.com.
No spam ever. Unsubscribe with one click any time.
It is never too late to be what you might have been. —George Eliot
I started a list of favorite music from YouTube.
The view from my front door this spring morning
This is #002 in my SotO series.
Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20, by Pablo de Sarasate, performed by Béla Fleck, Mike Marshall & Edgar Meyer
So excellent.
Listen to this on:
Beautiful Bonnie
I’ve waited long enough to write something about my other dog. My first dog.
In 2016, I lost Bonnie, my sweet dog, who was like my own beating heart. She died on a snowy December morning in our living room. Bonbon.
I met my shy twelve-week old puppy in February fourteen years earlier at Atlanta Humane Society. They told me she had been left in a box on the side of a noisy highway. I can’t imagine a person who could look at her and put her in a box.
I was smitten from the moment I held her to me and gazed at her lovely white face with big brown eyes that looked back at me as if she knew me already. And knew that I would love and protect her always.
I was fortunate to work where Bonnie could (mostly) always be with me, my constant companion for fourteen years. We worked together at the office, at home she helped me garden by stealing my gloves, she bit an intruder to my server room once that resulted in her short unfortunate incarceration, had cancer on one of her beautiful paws, knew how to high five, all her life would turn on a dime at the toot-toot of my whistle as she learned at puppy school, was a jealous Frosty Paw connoisseur, and gave me violent dog sugar every night at bedtime as I repeated “she’s giving me her dog love” to egg her on.
Younger Days
The bond between dogs and humans is ancient and enduring. We evolved together, shaping one another. I don’t know if we survived as a species because of dogs (though it wouldn’t surprise me), but I know that I survived as an individual human because of my dogs, who taught me responsibility, patience, kindness, discipline, playfulness, and unconditional love.
Of course, and sadly, we live longer than they do though, which is the ultimate heartbreak of every dog person. The loss is intensely painful and lonely and the emptiness nearly inconsolable for a while.
The kind vet who came out to our house to ease Bonnie’s way sent a card a few days later.
All creatures great and small, once loved, are never forgotten.
No, they’re not. And I won’t ever forget my Bonbon or stop loving her. Through her life, I would say to her, “What would I ever do without my Bonbon?” Now I know. I keep waking up every morning, better for having had Bonnie in my life. I’d give anything to bury my face in the scruff of her neck once more, to smell her vanilla-bone scented breath.
Chill cat
Facebook is Exxon of the Internet – Om on Tech
… the utopian view of social networking connecting everyone for good is coming to end across the political spectrum. Now it’s seen less as a hopeful tool and more as a weapon that everyone thinks is in the wrong hands. In many ways, Facebook is like the Exxon of our time — an indispensable tool that everyone despises — Exxon, maybe Comcast, and now Facebook; there’s not a lot of brands like that. After enough oil spills, we started investing in solar and battery technology … now we need to find our digital solar and batteries to invest in.
–Moxie Marlinspike, a security researcher & former head of security at Twitter
Having your own domain and space on the internet that you control and is the canonical you is a step in the right direction.
The Post is an excellent and emotionally stirring film and so perfect for these times we are in.
L Train City Bike – Brilliant Bicycle Co.
This is the bike I’m thinking of getting.
Giving flickr another try.
This is #001 in my SotO series.
I built a cabin, had a bunch of kids and wrote a bunch of songs about leaving the kids to go on the road. –Chris Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is Chris Luedecke of Chester, Nova Scotia. YouTube Music surfaced him to me when I was there on a recent Friday night listening through some Ruth Moody (of The Wailin’ Jennys) tunes. Moody is side B of a Luedecke/Moody 2014 7-inch split release Brightest On the Heart/Far And Wide.
The playful way Luedecke pronounces Delia Rose when he dips down to Rose is a sweet part of this very sweet album, Domestic Eccentric, that he recorded from a cabin that he built.
I love folk and roots music.
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photo credit: Melanie Roberts
I’m inspired by Tim Bray’s Song of the Day Project to do something similar here, but I’m calling mine SotO (Song of the Once-in-a while). I’m not as committed as Tim.
Tim tries to publish a short piece every day recommending a song that he “thinks is excellent and apt to please at least some readers.”
I enjoy discovering new music via Pandora, YouTube Music, Tim’s SotD, and Apple Music’s Friday New Music Mix and Sunday Chill Mix and then curating it all in Apple Music, which feels right at home to this long time iTunes user. One song leads to another in a fun chase down a music rabbit hole.
So welcome to SotO, my own tiny song discovery service. I hope you find something you like once in a while, and if you have something to recommend to me, please send it my way.